To Hokkaido
To Hokkaido is the third chapter of the first installment in the light novel series. Synopsis The girls finally locate Onpu, but when their plans to see her fail a little magic might be order! '' Summary Currently the girls are on their way to the Shin-Chitose Airport while Doremi recaps the horrible nightmare she had, involving her stomach exploding from being too swollen and full. She apologizes to everyone for making such a commotion as she tells Aiko and Hazuki, who questions her strange dream. But out of embarrassment Doremi refuses to say anything more, explaining to the Readers why they are heading to the Airport to begin with. As the girls stood outside of the Segawa Household a reporter from a woman's magazine came by to chat with them. There was a big article in it analyzing the fall of Onpu's popularity and shifting blame onto the commercial failure of "''Zagaidon", a remake series of "Gazamadon". At some point Onpu had spoken to the others regarding her concern over this, as she also noticed the decline. The magazine had some decent articles but a lot of them were pure slander and rumors, such as the Family selling their home and Onpu going into hiding after she took the job of a Gravure Model. The girls hadn't believed any of this and Majorika encouraged them to become witch apprentices again. However the girls refused the offer. In exchange they asked for an earlier payment date so that they could purchase tickets to fly out to Hokkaido. - - - - - - - - Around 9:35 am, the girls arrived at the Shin-Chitose Airport. They board the JR Hokkaido airport express and eventually reached Sapporo around 11:00 am. At this point in time Doremi believes a lunch break would be in order, but Aiko and Hazuki believe they shouldn't yet since the main goal is to locate Onpu, not sight-see and eat. As Doremi tries to reason with her friends, neither girl is in the mood and Aiko suggests that they try to find Onpu's fathers office. Before they leave, they spot a strange man and Doremi instantly recognized his exaggerated walk and curly purple hair. She then breaks story to describe Oyajide for anyone unfamiliar, saying he loves children and Onpu, and he began as an enemy for witch but overtime became a real friend. The trio confront Oyajide and he explains worrying over Onpu and shows them the magazine. Because he overheard their plans he decided he wanted to come also, which makes them happy as Doremi recalls he can use magic. Unfortunately, he informs them hat he can only use it to some distance, and Onpu isn't within it. While lamenting this, Hazuki reminds everyone of their initial plans to try to locate Onpu's dad and they rush to Sapporo's branch office of the Railroad Company. Upon arrival two security guards happen to question Oyajide since they deem him suspicious. After they try to capture him, deciding not to risk letting him in, he uses his magic to summon Pachinko Balls to make the guards trip and fall. - - - - - - The foursome retreat to a nearby Cafe after they manage to lose the security guards. It overlooks the railway company main entrance and they observe it while trying to think of a new plan- speaking with Tsuyoshi is out of the question now. Aiko suddenly gets an idea and points to an elderly man getting into a luxurious car and Oyajide seems to realize where she's heading, using his magic to transform into him. As it turns out, the man happened to be the vice president of the railway company. With this disguise Oyajide was easily able to enter the building and found out that Tsuyoshi would be driving the sleeper express train that evening. He returns to the girls to inform them of this and he decides to treat them to some Genghis Khan nabe with relish. As evening arrives the girls go to meet with Tsuyoshi at the parking lot. He shows up twenty minutes before the train departs and the girls call to him while Oyajide watches from a distance in order to avoid any more incidents. Tsuyoshi is able to recognize the girls and after they explain why they came, causing him to hesitantly say Onpu is pretending to be fine with everything going on, but lately its been very bad for her and he finds it hard trusting his daughter now. Hazuki asks for some explanation, but he comments on how regretful she was not being able to speak to anyone before she moved, and how she would have liked to give them a phone number or her email address. Before the trains departure is announced, Tsuyoshi asks them to give Onpu some time because he is sure she doesn't wish to bother them with her problems. He prepares to leave, informing them that Onpu and her mother, Miho, are living in Wakkanai. The girls thank him and return to Oyajide to catch him up to speed, then ask that he uses magic to help them. Sadly, he must return to work back in the Wizard World tending to the preschool. He explains that due to the recent lively activity coming from the Wizard Penpen Grass, a bunch of wizard babies are being born. The girls also realize in this time that they will be be late for their flight if they don't hurry back so they head to the Sapporo Station and part ways with Oyajide. While preparing to board the train that will take them home they voice their regrets over not being able to go to Wakkanai. But to their surprise, as they arrive at the Shin-Chitose airport they find the reporter from earlier. They hide before he can spot them and begin wondering why he showed up, with Hazuki guessing he may have discovered Onpu is in somewhere around Hokkaido, then they worry he might find her soon. But being unable to do anything about it they head home. As Akira Fujiwara drives the girls home they remain silent while thinking over things, like how one more day would have given them time to find Onpu. However their thoughts are distracted when they realize the moon is smiling, which means the links between their world and the witches is now connected, allowing entrance between them. For the sake of helping Onpu, the trio mutually agree now would be a good time to become Apprentice. - - - - While traversing through the Witch World, Doremi describes the wonderful, surreal vibes that come from it. She laments the fact that they used to be able to fly on their brooms to reach the Queen, but it takes much longer traversing on foot. But they believe this to be a good thing since it gives them time to chat and think back to when they refused to become Full-Blooded Witches three years ago. After an hour the girls arrive to the Palace and ask to speak with the Queen. Majorika and Lala had gone ahead to try to explain the situation beforehand and the Queen asks for Majorin to get the taps. They exchange greetings before the girls comment on the taps, with Doremi remarking that they look much smaller now before she asks if its really okay for them to become Apprentice again. The Queen is fine with the idea because the girls have managed to save the Witch World many times, and they were able to dissolve the witch frog curse. Hazuki asks if they can tell her their requests and she agrees, with Hazuki explaining that as Apprentice they will give themselves a single rule, they do not want to use magic again for their own benefits like they use to as children. Doremi then claims that the Queen could even put the frog curse on them should they fail to follow it, but the Queen points out she is unable to cast this, so instead she offers to destroy their taps if they use selfish magic. After everyone agrees, she casts a spell onto the taps and the girls take them. Majorin asks if they remember how to use the taps and while the girls assure them they do, they are told that their uniforms were made for their original child bodies, so they must imagine them fitting their teenage ones. Doremi didn't seem to listen due to her excitement and she forces the very tight uniform on- only for AIko to say her underwear is visible. As she panics Hazuki points out what Doremi did wrong and Majorika uses her magic to rid of the small uniform. Aiko and Hazuki then transform, followed by Doremi a second time and together the trio pose and introduce a new saying. They decide to try out their wands but they are surprised to see they were not given their original Peperuto, Puwapuwa, and Poppun Porons, but the upgraded Kururu Poron. But Majorin explains to them that the Queen is sure this wand will be more effective for them, and Majorika explains that because of their plans she went ahead to summon their beloved childhood instruments from the Human World and had the Queen merge them with the wands. The girls decide that it is time to leave and they summon their brooms, getting on them before thanking the Queen for being so kind to them. - - - - - - - The next day the girls leave the maho-do in Majorika's care and leave for Wakkanai on their brooms. Its been raining a lot in the Kanto and Tohuko regions, making the journey a little rough, but eventually the thick clouds begin to part to reveal a clear blue sky. While Doremi and Aiko race through the air Hazuki follows them slowly as she did in the past. She comments on how nice this feels and after six hours of travel around 11:00 am, the girls find themselves in Wakkanai. They locate a safe spot to land at in order to avoid being seen and cast Magical Stage to locate Onpu; but Aiko and Hazuki remind Doremi not to think about steak beforehand as they only brought so many Magic Spheres with them. While she is excited, Doremi scolds them for assuming she would do this, even if it happened a few times in the past; her top priority is to find Onpu above all else. As the sparkling light fades from magical stage, a tiny calligraphy brush falls from the sky. Doremi suggests that they may have messed up since they haven't cast Magical Stage in a long time, but Hazuki points out that it was always vague in the past, so it will probably lead them to her. The girls pick up the brush and each take turns holding it in the air while walking around to try to find some sort of answer, but all they get are strange looks because they forgot to change out of their Apprentice clothing. When they realize this the trio run into a nearby alley to change back into their casual clothing and resume the search. An adult man asks to borrow the brush and mentions that he has a terrible sneeze that wont come out. Hazuki, understanding of this feeling allows him to borrow the brush and in return he offers the girls some chocolate he got from the convenience store and gives them back the brush before leaving. Aiko points out the familiarity of this and Hazuki becomes excited to see what they will find next. They come across two women with a huge age difference and try to act as if they didn't notice them when they determine one is a wife and the other is her mother-in-law. As she hears one say that Husbands love chocolate, Hazuki offers the chocolate they just got to them and is given some sweet bean jelly candies in return. With both women in a better mood they take their leave. While they walk Doremi remarks that they will need to start showing off the candies to find out who needs them. Hazuki thinks this is a good idea, but before they can a strange shadow swipes the candies. They recognize the dog as a shiba inu with a leash around it's neck and it runs past an old man, who asks they help him catch his dog, Chako. They are led to the park after Aiko loses her temper and yells at the dog, but they are distracted when Hazuki suddenly goes into shock at the sight of something and points out a mysterious figure before them with an older woman in a wheelchair. Doremi is taken by the girls beauty when it dons on her, its Onpu. Onpu spots the girls and appears surprised, which she quickly replaces with playfulness. Doremi internally regards at this moment how Onpu has transformed from a devilish, cute chidol into a beautiful young lady. Even remarking that Aiko was stunned to see Onpu and how pretty she is. Doremi embraces Onpu then began to demand answers from her, but Onpu claims she has been really busy due to how much has been going on lately. The girls use this moment to capture Chako when they notice him creeping closer, and Miho offers to keep an eye on him until his owner returns so that the girls can have some alone time. - - - - - - - The four teenagers sit down and Onpu quickly apologizes for losing contact with them, but she is relieved as they aren't angry with her. They tell her about becoming Apprentice again and how they no longer need to fear the witch frog curse since it was broken, and they show her the tap. They discuss their journey to find her, which touches Onpu before Hazuki asks why Miho has been reduced to the wheelchair, and Onpu explains that she suffered from a mild-stroke. She recalls how things have been since graduation a couple years back, saying that Majoruka chose to return to the witch world her mother had no choice but to set up a new company to take over the role of CEO. But she pushed herself too hard trying to help Onpu and the stroke occurred, causing her to collapse at the end of last year. It was tough for them, but because it was minor she can still speak normally and is attending rehab in order to relearn how to walk. By now she can walk using a stick, but as she wished to visit the park the wheelchair was an easier option. Onpu admits that she really misses them, but with everything going on she's been worried that she would cause trouble. Doremi takes a moment to comment on how mature Onpu's thinking process is in comparison to their own, then Aiko mentions the magazine and how they wanted to protect Onpu from people like that, which was what encouraged them to become Apprentice Witch again. She feels bad knowing this but as they are her best friends they assure her its okay. After a moment of enjoying the lovely breeze, Onpu mentions that she plans to keep tending to her mother until she can walk on her own again. She has been living with her Uncle in the mean time and attends the nearby high school, and while she doesn't really know what to do about her celebrity life, she wonders if she could become a normal girl now. While she seems fine, the others can tell she isn't very happy like this but she's putting up a strong front. Life is very confusing for her right now, but she's happy they can stay in touch, exchanging her email and phone numbers with them all. Doremi then asks if she would like to become an Apprentice again but Onpu quickly shoots down the idea, voicing worry that she could succumb to the temptation of casting forbidden magic again. While understanding of this, Doremi changes the subject by asking if Hazuki and Aiko will be coming here to attend the Bon Festival, since this is the area her family tends to come by while staying with her grandparents in Hida. Aiko and Hazuki confirm this and Onpu points out that there is a chance her dad can watch her mother so that she can come along too. The girls happily cheer, with Doremi being reminded of their past once more. Quotes *Doremi: it's still early, but lets have lunch. '' *Aiko: ''Eh?! Didn't you just eat a box of candy on the plane? '' *Doremi: ''I have a separate tummy for sweets. '' ----- *Doremi, Aiko, Hazuki: ''Witch apprentice, version 16! ----- *Onpu: I knew Ai-chan would say that. However, I'm just like Ai-chan, and do not like people pitying me. Trivia Gallery Onpu 16 normal attire.png flying16.png Transform16.png Category:Ojamajo Doremi 16 Category:Light Novel Chapters Category:OD16B1